Target route setting support system

Abstract

A target route setting support system is equipped with a transiting area/starting-terminal point recognizing unit, a route candidate generating unit, and a determining unit. The transiting area/starting-terminal point recognizing unit recognizes a node or a link connecting nodes together designated by the user via a remote controller as a designated transiting area, the target position as a terminal point, and a departure position as a starting point. The route candidate generating unit generates a moving route candidate connecting the terminal point and the starting point so the designated transiting area is included at least in a part of the moving route candidate. The determining unit determines the level of a possibility of contact between the robot and an object in the case where the robot is made to move along the moving route candidate, and outputs the determination result via an output device.

1. A target route setting support system for supporting an user in setting a target route for a robot autonomously moving according to the target route, the system including at least one processor, the at least one processor comprising:
 a first storing unit which stores a position of a plurality of nodes preliminarily set in a moving region of the robot; 
 a second storing unit which stores information related to a position and an existence range of an object in the moving region of the robot; 
 a starting point recognizing unit which recognizes a current position or a departure position of the robot in the moving region as a starting point; 
 a terminal point recognizing unit which recognizes a target position of the robot in the moving region designated by the user via an input device as a terminal point; 
 a transiting area recognizing unit which recognizes, of the plurality of nodes stored in the first storing unit, the node or a link connecting nodes together which is designated by the user via the input device as a designated transiting area; 
 a route candidate generating unit which generates a moving route candidate connecting the terminal point recognized by the terminal point recognizing unit and the starting point recognized by the starting point recognizing unit, the moving route candidate generated such that the designated transiting area recognized by the transiting area recognizing unit is included as at least part of the moving route candidate; and 
 a determining unit which determines a level of or an existence or nonexistence of a possibility of contact between the robot and the object, in the case where the robot is made to move along the moving route candidate generated by the route candidate generating unit, according to whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied in light of information concerning the position and the existence range of the object stored in the second storing unit, and which outputs the determination result via an output device; 
 wherein the moving route candidate generated by the route candidate generating unit is allowed to be set as the target route, on condition that it is determined by the determining unit that the predetermined condition is not satisfied and the possibility of contact is therefore low or nonexistent. 
 
     
     
       2. The target route setting support system according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the determining unit determines that the possibility of contact is high when the predetermined condition is satisfied, the predetermined condition is a condition that the moving route candidate generated by the route candidate generating unit intersects with an object region defined by the existence range of the object at the position of the object stored in the second storing unit. 
 
     
     
       3. The target route setting support system according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein the determining unit presents an intersecting position between the moving route candidate and the object region, when it is determined that the possibility of contact is high. 
 
     
     
       4. The target route setting support system according to  claim 2 ,
 wherein the at least one processor further comprises a recommended route generating unit which generates a recommended moving route connecting the terminal point recognized by the terminal point recognizing unit and the starting point recognized by the starting point recognizing unit, so as to avoid an intersecting position between the moving route candidate and the object region, and also to include as much of the designated transiting area recognized by the transiting area recognizing unit as possible while avoiding the intersecting position, in place of the moving route candidate, when it is determined by the determining unit that the possibility of contact is high. 
 
     
     
       5. The target route setting support system according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein the at least one processor further comprises a third storing unit which stores an existence range of the robot, and 
 the determining unit sets a determining region having an existence range corresponding to the existence range of the robot stored in the third storing unit along the moving route candidate, and determines that the possibility of contact exists when the predetermined condition is satisfied, the predetermined condition is a condition that the determining region overlaps with an object region defined by the existence range of the object at the position of the object stored in the second storing unit. 
 
     
     
       6. The target route setting support system according to  claim 5 , wherein the determining unit determines, in the case where it is determined that the possibility of contact exists, the possibility of contact to be high when the moving route candidate generated by the route candidate generating unit intersects with the object region, the possibility of contact to be low when the moving route candidate generated by the route candidate generating unit does not intersect with the object region. 
     
     
       7. The target route setting support system according to  claim 5 ,
 wherein the determining unit presents an overlapping position between the determining region and the object region, when it is determined that the possibility of contact exists. 
 
     
     
       8. The target route setting support system according to  claim 5 ,
 wherein the determining unit is equipped with a recommended route generating unit which generates a recommended moving route connecting the terminal point recognized by the terminal point recognizing unit and the starting point recognized by the starting point recognizing unit, so as to avoid an overlapping position between the determining region and the object region, and also to include as much of the designated transiting area recognized by the transiting area recognizing unit as possible while avoiding the overlapping position, in place of the moving route candidate, when it is determined that the possibility of contact exists. 
 
     
     
       9. The target route setting support system according to  claim 5 ,
 wherein the determining region is a region having a first predetermined width along the moving route candidate, and the first predetermined width is variably set in accordance with a changing pattern of a moving velocity of the robot. 
 
     
     
       10. The target route setting support system according to  claim 5 ,
 wherein the determining region is a region having a second predetermined width in a direction orthogonal to the moving route candidate, and the second predetermined width is variably set in accordance with a swinging width in a traverse direction of the robot. 
 
     
     
       11. The target route setting support system according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the determining unit presents an overlapping position between the determining region and the object region, when it is determined that the possibility of contact exists. 
 
     
     
       12. The target route setting support system according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the determining unit is equipped with a recommended route generating unit which generates a recommended moving route connecting the terminal point recognized by the terminal point recognizing unit and the starting point recognized by the starting point recognizing unit, so as to avoid an overlapping position between the determining region and the object region, and also to include as much of the designated transiting area recognized by the transiting area recognizing unit as possible while avoiding the overlapping position, in place of the moving route candidate, when it is determined that the possibility of contact exists. 
 
     
     
       13. The target route setting support system according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the determining region is a region having a first predetermined width along the moving route candidate, and the first predetermined width is variably set in accordance with a changing pattern of a moving velocity of the robot. 
 
     
     
       14. The target route setting support system according to  claim 6 ,
 wherein the determining region is a region having a second predetermined width in a direction orthogonal to the moving route candidate, and the second predetermined width is variably set in accordance with a swinging width in a traverse direction of the robot. 
 
     
     
       15. The target route setting support system according to  claim 1 , wherein the route candidate generating unit generates the moving route candidate such that the designated transiting area recognized by the transiting area recognizing unit is included as only part of the moving route candidate. 
     
     
       16. The target route setting support system according to  claim 2 , wherein the route candidate generating unit generates the moving route candidate such that the designated transiting area recognized by the transiting area recognizing unit is included as only part of the moving route candidate. 
     
     
       17. The target route setting support system according to  claim 6 , wherein the route candidate generating unit generates the moving route candidate such that the designated transiting area recognized by the transiting area recognizing unit is included as only part of the moving route candidate. 
     
     
       18. The target route setting support system according to  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of nodes are set in predetermined positions in the moving region irrespective of the starting point recognized by the starting point recognizing unit and the terminal point recognized by the terminal point recognizing unit, and
 the route candidate generating unit generates the moving route candidate as a path connecting the terminal point to the starting point via at least one of the plurality of nodes. 
 
     
     
       19. The target route setting support system according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a remote controller separate from the robot, the remote controller including the input device and the output device.